Do I hold the record?
 

Firstly this is not a rant, I was sitting on my last long haul flight thinking about being a member of BAEC for 15 years and in that 15 years I have had around 150 flights all paid with my own coin, with flights in Y to C and to North South East and West and around the world. 75% of flights had higher cabins, but my grand total of upgrades are 1.5. The 1 was my very first BA flight after defecting from VS as a Blue in 2003 the 0.5 is Flub from MAD-LHR. Now I'm happy to fly in the cabin I have paid for but am I the record holder for the least number of upgrades for the longest period in time.
let me know if you can beat that snapshot of my BAEC membership.
John

I joined BAEC in 1998 (20 years) and have flown all round the world at my own expense. The majority of these flights were in premium cabins but have only ever had one upgrade. Returning from Hong Kong, due to a busy flight we were upgraded from CW to First.

My upgrade rate on BA is 3/214, although two of these have come in the past year (in 67 segments). One was a gate upgrade and the other two were just seat reassignments that I noticed on OLCI, BA did not even make any sort of big thing about it (like sending an email) which surprised me as an upgrade should be a feel good moment for customers.

For comparison purposes, my rate on KLM is 2/281.

It does sound like a reasonably poor percentage! As @PETER01 well knows, I went through a particularly poor patch of over 50 sectors in WT+ without a sniff of an upgrade, all the time as a GGL, but I have had my fair share of good luck since, even when I haven't wanted it (e.g. when being the only one upgraded on a booking with my family!)

Yes and I genuinely thought you were winding me up but no! :D

I haven't counted all my flights but been a member of BAEC since the early 2000's.

One service recovery upgrade in 2013 (WT+ to F) and 2 in the last 9 months from WT+ to CW all of which were both from LAX home to the UK. Not sure what percentage I'd be at overall but extremely low indeed at around 1-1.5%.

My record is equally poor - probably 5-6 in the past 25 years, though I was travelling for many years on heavily discounted (AD75/50s) fares. I recently received one very welcome upgrade at the gate to J from SIN to LHR after an exhausting trip and slept most of the way home.

1st op-up was as a blue, LHR-MIA. Ended up in the second row of WTP on an old 777 on a super-cheap economy ticket (with a good seat picked at checkin).

2nd was as a new silver, J-F on KUL-LHR.

Since then:

5 ET-CE - 2 as silver, 3 as gold
1 WT-WTP on an avios redemption
4 WTP-CW in the app (and only actually flew WTP once, lots of avios upgrades though)
1 CW-F

Probably over something like 250 BA flights in those three years.

For some that would be the upgrade sweet spot.

Likewise a BAEC member for getting close to 18 years now. Had various upgrades from WTP to Club, twice from Club to First, one or two from ET to CE. Though I feel I have fared reasonably well, the reality on examination is that it was around 2-3% overall.

As so many have stated before, you gets what you pays for... if you get an upgrade then it is nice.... but do not expect it... because you will be 97% disappointed!

I'm probably at around 200 sectors with 4 upgrades, all while Silver:

LHR-BKK Y -> W
HKG-LHR Y -> W
LHR-ATH Y -> J
LHR-LAS Y -> W

Probably something like 10 / 1,000+, mostly when I wasn't crediting to BA and flying WT+.

I cannot blame BA for not upgrading me nowadays since I am mostly in the highest cabin.

I am even proud (??) to have been downgraded once during a fog disruption. :D

In about 8 years 3 upgrades with BA, 1 time with CX, every time from WT to WTP. 3 times upgraded at check in while traveling on my own, 1 time at the gate while traveling my mother (both upgraded).

NRT - LHR, 2014, first time upgraded, as blue, so happy being upgraded for a long flight.
JFK - LHR, 2014, still blue, but became bronze after this trip. Upgraded more then an hour after checking in, being called within the airport.
CNS - HKG, 2015, bronze, CX flight, saw lots of other upgrades at the gate so very strange situation.
BOS - LHR, 2018. Upgraded while on my way to the airport as my seat suddenly changed in the app.

I've only had 7 upgrades. This year that is. I guess it's only just September however. Some here mainly travel First, which in my experience makes upgrades really quite difficult.

I have had one downgrade on BA (and a lot more on AA) but that was a long time ago, HEL-LHR.